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January 28, 2008
Celtics- A Lesson in Fine Wine
I was thinking about how to evaluate this year's version of the Celtics at the halfway point - which is about where we are.
Comparisons to and similarities of this team with a bottle of fine wine compelling.
When judging fine wine, it is mostly the quality of the grapes that decides the quality of the wine. But the wine maker, and blending grapes play a crucial part as well.
I was in the fine wine business years ago and still enjoy a good bottle of wine now and then. In France in particular, in the old days, wines were only designated with a year and 'estate bottled' when the crop and resulting wine were deemed exceptionally good. Therefore, it declared a 'vintage year'.
That is a perfect way to describe this year's Celtic team.
While the real grape harvest was taking place in California and Europe, the Celtics completed their harvest of players and 'made the wine'. It was effectively made in the preseason. Doc Rivers and his assistant 'wine makers' assessed the team's talent, and decided on the proper blend of strategies for this 'lot' of grapes, dominated by 3 very high priced barrels of the sweet fruit. Unlike real wine, there was no time for aging in the tanks or barrels. Doc had to devise the plan and mix the parts of the roster instantly.
We are now drinking the results with every game played.
The difference between fine wine and simple wine is that fine wine is far more complex. Chemists have analyzed wine and found that it has more than 250 compounds in it, making it more complex than blood serum.
It changes as it ages. It slowly changes in the bottle. It changes in the glass after you pour it.
Doc Rivers has said, more than once, that this is a simple game. Agreed.
But it is played with 5 starters, 3-4 important substitutes, and 3-5 other players, who are potentially in the game with but an unexpected injury or two. That is as many as 15 different personalities, experience levels, skill sets, confidence, intelligence, and last, but certainly not least...egos to work with.
That complicates things quite a bit.
Without going into what a coach must do (not that I even know), regarding evaluation all of the above, his job is to find a system and set of players to best execute that system to produce the best performance he can massage from that set of players. That is happening before our eyes.
The Celtics are, by no means, a finished product. At the halfway point, they are perhaps, halfway there - possibly a bit more.
In fine wine, the first thing you encounter is the bouquet. A big, powerful bouquet is the first sign of a possibly great wine.
The season starts. The bottle is opened.
9-0, 21-2 and so on. The Celtics romp from the gate was the bouquet of this team. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen confirmed that they are, in fact, among the highest quality hectares of grapes available. It was impossible to ignore. The best, highest quality grapes dominate a blend, and subsequently the bottle of wine you consume. So it is with those three players.
As the wine makes contact with air, it begins to change at a quicker rate. Even fine wine doesn't automatically just get better and better. It may be 'closed in' for a period. You may think it is isn't a great wine at all. The bouquet disappears, the taste is muted, or not complimentary to the tongue. The 'compounds' are not in sync.You look at the glass as if you have been 'had'.
Then it explodes with flavor and finds exquisite balance. It still moving and changing, but has hit a point of dynamic chemistry. You discover this by tasting it. It is unmistakable. Multiple flavors all coming together as one in a most delicious way. Sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious, but simply.... unmistakable.
But there is a time for the lesser, 'blending' grapes, used to complete the wine, to become a part of the whole. They play a very important part in the character of the wine. They help determine just how complex and nuanced that wine will end up being. A big, forceful, singularly characterized wine is but an ego trip, and without the class, complexity and refinement of the world's best wines. Great to drink for a short while, but not for the long term. The blending grapes are but a small portion of the total. Yet, they help bring out the very best and elevate the wine to a higher level.
The three major players have shown that they can dominate and blow you away for a long period of time. They have the bouquet. They have the undeniable flavor. But they have, perhaps, reached a 'closed in' period. They need to blend in a strong way with the chosen blending grapes in order for this wine to reach its fullest potential.
You can declare this a vintage year for the Celtics.
The main crop is of the highest quality. In wine country, it usually means that the blending grapes are also going to be above average. But not always. They are less complex and simpler, less remarkable in taste by themselves. Ordinary, in fact.
We are entering the period where the main components of the wine will either mix well with the the blending grapes - or not. The blending grapes don't carry the taste of the wine. They support it. But it is a support that most fine wine needs to achieve its greatest possibilities.
When you drink a wine too young or too old, you will know it, if you have drunk enough wine and know what to look for.
They say that the best wine comes from old vines. Mostly mature components, this Celtic wine, yet with a few younger grapes. It is still interacting with the air, and each compound that makes up the wine. It is not a mature wine, regarding its own aging. It is not even 6 months. Teams and fine wine take time to reach the perfect apex, if they ever do.
Will it reach perfection? Will it do it in one season? Or will some potential flaws play a larger role?
Give a great wine enough time and it won't disappoint.
Posted by Tom on January 28, 2008 9:13 PM
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